The reasons for the
extinction of this species are almost completely unknown, above all when
the survival of the other marquesan fruit-dove species, the White-capped
Fruit-Dove (Ptilinopus dupetithouarsii), is considered, which is
still fairly common on most islands in the marquesan Archipelago.

The nominate race, which once occured on the island of Nuku Hiva, was
extinct by around 1900.